The Best Passive Income Investments in Singapore

April 3, 2025

Looking to build a steady passive income stream? Here are the most popular investment assets and strategies for your portfolio.

Passive income investing has become an essential strategy for many to grow wealth, as it lets you earn money regularly without your constant active involvement. This makes it an effective method for creating financial independence.

Whether you’re looking to supplement your current salary, earn extra income, or even retire early, building a passive income portfolio through strategic investments is a smart way to achieve your financial goals.

This article will discuss the benefits of passive income investing and how Syfe’s portfolios like REIT+ and Income+ can help you on your journey to financial freedom.

Reasons to Earn Passive Income

These are the common reasons for building a passive income portfolio:

To supplement your salary: With rising living costs, passive income is a way to earn additional cash without having to trade your time for money.

To earn extra income: A passive income stream allows for more financial flexibility, be it for emergencies, vacation, or to pay off debt.

To combat inflation: Passive income investing allows you to earn income from assets that grow in value over time, thus protecting your purchasing power and savings from being eroded by inflation.

To retire early: The notion of financial independence and early retirement (also known as the FIRE movement) has inspired many to build a passive income portfolio that can one day replace their job income.

And the best part about it is that you don’t need to actively manage a portfolio or track stocks. Passive income investing does not take up extra time once you have set up a recurring investment or invest a lump sum of money that will consistently generate returns.

The Best Passive Income Investments in Singapore

Investing is the most effective way to earn passive income, as it allows your money to work harder for you by generating interest, dividends, or capital gains over time.

These are the most popular various investment assets with which you can build a passive income portfolio in Singapore

1. Dividend Stocks

Dividend stocks are shares in companies that regularly distribute a portion of their profits to shareholders. These stocks tend to be from well-established companies often in mature industries such as banks, telcos, and consumer goods. These companies usually have a stable growth outlook and a track record of paying consistent and growing dividends. Singapore bank DBS for example, is well-known for paying sustainable dividends.

By owning a company’s stock, you can earn a portion of the profits as dividends, which are usually distributed on a quarterly or semi-annual basis. The profits can then be withdrawn as passive income or reinvested for compounding growth.

Here’s how you can earn S$200 per month from dividend stocks, assuming a 4% yield:

Monthly income: S$200
Annual income: S$200 × 12 = S$2,400
Investment needed: S$2,400 ÷ 0.04 = S$60,000

Try our calculator to find out how much you need to get to the passive income goal you’re looking for.

If you don’t have the time or interest to research individual stocks, an alternative to investing in dividend-paying companies is to invest in dividend exchange-traded funds (ETFs). ETFs offer both diversification and cost-efficiency as they hold many dividend stocks in one fund. Different dividend ETFs will have different timings for their dividend dates. You can refer to the fund’s prospectus (available online) for more details.

2. Fixed Income

Fixed income assets include government and corporate bonds, high-yield bonds, investment-grade securities, and emerging market bonds, which generate regular interest payments, making them a reliable source of passive income.

A fixed income portfolio typically holds a mix of various bond types, offering diversified opportunities to earn passive income in a low-risk way. This thus makes them a popular choice for conservative investors.

Investing for passive income with Syfe Income+

Syfe’s Income+ is a great option for those looking to generate passive income. It is a globally diversified fixed income portfolio that aims to optimise income for any market condition. Investors can enjoy a monthly payout straight to their bank account or choose to reinvest to grow their portfolio.

Two options are available to Syfe investors:

Income+ Preserve, with a 5.0-5.5% payout, is built for investors looking to generate a steady regular income while seeking to preserve capital. Income+ Preserve employs a strategy that focuses on investment grade quality bonds which typically involves investing in high-quality bonds such as US Treasuries and investment-grade corporate bonds.
Income+ Enhance, with a 5.5-6.0% payout, is built for investors seeking to generate higher current income and long term capital appreciation. Income+ Enhance employs a strategy that focuses on credit to generate higher returns which typically involves investing in higher-yielding, lower-rated bonds such as high-yield corporate bonds and emerging market bonds.

With S$100,000 to invest, investors can receive a passive income of between S$4-6K a year.

Here’s an illustration of how your payouts could look like with different investment amounts. The tables below refer to monthly and annually based on the 5.0-6.0% p.a.* monthly payout range.

Monthly
Invested Amount	5.0% Payout	5.5% Payout	6.0% Payout
	5.00%	5.50%	6.00%
50,000	208	229	250
100,000	417	458	500
500,000	2083	2292	2500
1,000,000	4167	4583	5000

Yearly
Invested Amount	5.0% Payout	5.5% Payout	6.0% Payout
	5.00%	5.50%	6.00%
50,000	2500	2750	3000
100,000	5000	5500	6000
500,000	25000	27500	30000
1,000,000	50000	55000	60000

Source: Syfe, as of 3 April 2025. You may find the latest updated figures here.

Monthly payout ranges are computed based on the weighted average of the annualised historical distribution amount or dividend/distribution yield of the constituent funds from the latest three months. The dividend amount or dividend rate/yield of the constituent funds is not guaranteed. Past distributions are not necessarily indicative of future trends, which may be lower. A positive monthly payout or distribution yield does not imply a positive return. Learn more.

If you’re looking to build up your passive income source towards retirement, you can set a monthly payout goal, and work back the amount of capital required. For example, if you are seeking to retire comfortably at S$2,500 per month, you are roughly looking at having a lump sum of at least S$500,000 invested in Income+ (assuming payout average is at 5%).

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3. Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)

REITs are companies that own and manage income-generating real estate properties, such as commercial buildings, industrial buildings, or retail spaces. They provide a steady stream of passive income by distributing most of their income to investors in the form of dividends. When you invest in a REIT, you own a share of the real estate portfolio and receive regular dividends based on the income that these properties generate.

In Singapore, real estate investment trusts (REITs) are required to distribute at least 90% of their annual income to investors. This makes Singapore REITs a good source of steady passive income.

Syfe’s REIT+ portfolio offers exposure to the 20 largest SGD-denominated Singapore REITs carefully selected for their liquidity, large market capitalisations, and strong backing by reputable management teams.

Since its launch in April 2020, REIT+ has delivered an excess return of +5.06% compared to the benchmark (as of 18 March 2025). This steady outperformance is a result of our ongoing optimisation process, which prioritises a selection of top 20 S-REITs that are SGD-denominated, highly liquid, and managed by reputable managers.

Currently, Syfe’s REIT+ (100% REITs) portfolio offers an estimated dividend yield of 6.5% p.a., well above other yield-generating instruments, such as 10-year Singapore government bonds, which has a yield of 2.7%.

Assuming a 6% annual yield, to earn S$200 per month in passive income:

Monthly income: S$200
Annual income: S$200 × 12 = S$2,400
Investment needed: S$2,400 ÷ 0.06 = S$40,000

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Start Earning Passive Income Today with Syfe

Whether you’re looking to offset your expenses, pay off a mortgage, generate an allowance for your parents, save up for your kids’ education, or build up your retirement fund, Syfe’s Income+ and REIT+ portfolios offer diversified exposure to a range of high-quality assets to help you get closer to your financial goals.

How to Get Started

Simply log into your Syfe app, select Income+ or REIT+ and top up the portfolio with the amount you want to invest.

With Syfe Income+, investors also get the option to reinvest or withdraw the payouts to your bank account or to Cash+, depending on your immediate needs. No fees are charged for withdrawals, payouts or for reinvestment. (Additionally, you can also save up to 60% of fund level fees with Income+ compared to buying bonds yourself as a retail investor.)

If you’re ready to take the next step in your financial journey, Syfe’s REIT+ and Income+ portfolios provide a seamless way to start earning passive income without the hassle of constant active portfolio management.

This article is for informational purposes only and should not be viewed as financial advice. It is not meant to market any specific investment, or offer or recommend the purchase or sale of any specific security. All forms of investments carry risks, including the risk of losing all of the invested amount. Such activities may not be suitable for everyone. This advertisement has not been reviewed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.